Test of Steel
by MeatLips
Summary: To gain confidence as the Queen of Kei, Youko decides to train under one of the legendary swordmasters of the Twelve Kingdoms... the last thing she expected to find was love... Rated M for some later lemon schtuff


**Test of Steel **  
A Twelve Kingdoms fan fic.  
All characters are the property of the original author, except for Tomokaito Shiryu. I made him. He's mine.

* * *

"When I travel abroad, I am armed with three things. Do you know what they are and do you know why?" 

His steel grey eyes seemed to drill into her own with a silent intensity that was almost uncomfortable but made butterflies dance in her stomach. When Youko first met Sensei Tomokaito Shiryu, he was a tall, fairly muscular man standing in her court. His face had caught her memory, since it was handsome and young-looking, almost elfen in appearance. His mouth seemed to made for impish grins and full on smiles and his head was topped off with a unruly mane of silver white hair that hung down to his back. The only weapon she remembered him carrying was a Hourai style katana. Other than that, Youko couldn't remember any other obvious weapon.

"Um..." she began, "your sword," she looked down at her hands clenched in her lap, "but I'm not sure what the other two weapons could be, sensei." "The other two weapons, my queen, are my hands, and the one thing that every person is equipped with. It is the mind." Youko looked back up into his eyes. _Such old eyes for such a youthful face_, she thought. Tomokaito continued, "The first weapon that comes into play in any potentially dangerous situation is always the mind. It is what you use to determine if the situation is avoidable or unavoidable. Unarmed, I have more options if I am in a situation that does not require severe action, and finally, I carry the sword for those situations where lives are in danger."  
He looked at Youko with a serious expression. "A swordmaster," he said "Only bares his blade if all other options have been exhausted. We draw our swords for one reason and one reason alone; to kill."  
Several months ago Youko had been feeling particularly frustrated with being the newly crowned queen of Kei. Even after fighting in the uprising in the Wa Province and overthrowing Shouko, she wondered what would have happened to her if she hadn't had her hinman, Juuryu, providing her with those amazing fighting skills. The king of En was a legendary swordsman, and he had achieved that without using a hinman. The thought that she relied on this magical being to make her a formidable warrior made Youko feel counterfeit. She just didn't feel like she could take care of herself without help. She felt irritated, remembering herself back in Japan, always trying to please everybody, and lacking any faith in herself at all. Youko aired these thoughts to Shoryu, the king of En one day during his visit to Kinpo Palace.  
"Your answer is simple," he had said, "You need to learn to fight on your own."  
He went on, "There exists a registry, not to different from the Registry of Immortals. It is called the Registry of Swordmasters. The only way to get registered on there is to be trained by another registered Swordmaster. Once registered, you are marked with a symbol of a black crescent on the back of your right hand."  
"Are you registered?" Youko asked.  
Shoryu snorted. "Are you kidding? The testing is extremely rigorous, and the final test... let's just say that I didn't want to try to pass it." He stopped and looked at Youko. "The man I trained with is one of the best swordmasters alive" he said, "perhaps aspiring to get the name Seikishi onto that registry would give you that little confidence boost you need."  
"Youko" she responded, "If I train for such a thing, I want my own name on that registry. Not the name of the Queen of Kei."  
And now she found herself sitting with her legs folded under in front of that very man that En had trained with. She had brought her Suiguu, and asked Juuryu to leave her for a little while. Keiki hadn't been happy to hear about that, but he finally agreed to let her train without her hinman. His only condition was that one of his shirai guard the door to this room and allow no one to enter. Youko had reluctantly agreed. Her sword now rested in a corner, untouched. Tomokaito turned and placed four objects on the floor between them. Three balls, about the size of baseballs, with holes drilled through them, and a long wooden training sword.  
"Today's first lesson," he said with a grin, "juggling."  
Youko stared at him. "Juggling?" she asked incredulously.  
"Juggling," he said, picking up the balls, "You will learn how to juggle, and you will practice juggling whenever you get a chance. And you will learn with these three balls."  
He began to juggle, the balls made a faint whistling sound as they moved through the air. After a few minutes, he stopped and handed them to her. After a few failed tries, Youko surprised herself by keeping the balls in the air for more than two minutes. Tomokaito smiled at her.  
"Training you will take less time than normal, and you can thank your hinman for that." he said.  
"Why's that?"  
He took the balls back and moved them to the side. "Your body got conditioned and remembers some of the things you did with the hinman inside." He looked up into her eyes again, and her stomach did a flip. "A hinman would slow a true swordmaster down, and the real weakness of using hinmen is that they require your eyes to be open. That is because a hinman cannot use any of your senses other than your eyes. Now pick up the training sword and attack me." he said producing a second wooden sword, "Today we shall begin by working on forms both armed and unarmed"

* * *

Youko lowered herself into the tub and hissed through her teeth at the twinge of pain that produced. Her whole body felt like a mass of bruises. Even with the padding that he made her wear for training, every blow Tomokaito landed with seemingly effortless ease hurt like hell. He was inhumanly fast, and seemed like he had eyes all the way around his head. _I could kill someone right now for some ibuprofen_, she thought. Her handmaid, entered the bath chamber. "I brought what you asked for, shoujou." She pressed the pale, blue orb into Youko's hand. Youko smiled up at her. "Thank you."  
The handmaid kneeled down beside the ornate bath and looked into Youko's face with her penetrating eyes.  
"Shoujou," she began, "What sort of training are you doing? I'm not sure I would approve of my queen returning to her chambers in such pain."  
Youko closed her eyes and sighed. "This is something I must do."  
The other woman reached out and took Youko's hand into her own gentle palm. "You don't have to prove to anyone anymore that you are the rightful Queen, shoujou."  
Youko squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "This is only to prove it to myself", she said. Youko clutched the jewel tightly to herself as her handmaid left, feeling its warmth radiate through her body, healing her bruises. _Thank god for this jewel_, she thought as she lay back in the tub again and relaxed. She suspected that she was going to need this jewel a lot more often in the coming months. Youko closed her eyes and thought of the swordmaster now training her. Everytime they made eye contact, she felt butterflies in her stomach. He certainly was attractive. She had only ever been attracted to one other man in her life, and he was no longer around. Youko chided herself, here I am, a newly crowned queen with a kingdom in need of an epic amount of work, and all I'm thinking of right now is my new teacher like some fawning little schoolgirl. She couldn't change the loneliness that she felt at times. There was Keiki, tall, mysterious and aloof. He certainly was beautiful, but the idea of fostering some sort of closer relationship beyond ruler and kirin seemed as appealing as watching paint dry. Keiki was a complex individual, and with the failure of her predecessor as queen, he was more reserved than ever. Then there was Rakushun, who seemed more like a brother than anything else, just as Suzu and Shoukei felt more like her sisters at times than just advisors. Youko lowered herself until her nose just cleared the top of the water. It seemed that she gained more family than friends here since becoming queen. Was this feeling she kept having for Tomokaito merely a crush? 

Elsewhere in Kinpo Palace, Tomokaito Shiryu, immortal as a registered swordmaster, survivor of countless battles, acclaimed swordsman, was sitting in his own bathtub, feeling rather lost in his feelings towards his queen. Everytime she shook that fiery mane of red hair, he longed to run his fingers through it. Everytime she wiped the sweat out of those beautiful emerald eyes, and that beautiful bronze skin glowed with exertion, he felt his heart race. This is foolish, he thought, I was walking these lands centuries before her great, great, grandfather was even born. He had been alive for a lot of years. A lot of lonely years. The last time he had loved a woman was over four hundred years ago. His Hina. Sweet Hina. Tomokaito had tried desperately to get her registered as a Sen-nin, but his requests were denied. So he lived with her, watching her grow old, watching the arthritis curl her sweet little hands into almost useless claws. And finally, he held her in his arms when she died. It had felt like a piece of his own heart had died with her.  
Now, four hundred years later, he was feeling those old feelings stir when he looked at the new, young queen of Kei.

* * *

The months passed, and the lessons grew harder, although Youko was finding that she would come out of these training sessions with less and less bruises. It was so different, fighting on her own without Juryuu. In the past, she felt like she was sort of riding shotgun whenever the hinman took control. Now she learned swordsmanship, unarmed combat, and even the philosophy of the sword on her own. She never realized how much philosophy and swordsmanship went hand in hand. "The philosophy of the swordmaster is simple," Tomokaito had said, "if you never understand anything else I teach you, I will make sure you will always remember this mantra: We draw our swords to kill. The bared blade of a swordmaster is not a warning, it is a death sentence. You see, life is a series of lessons. Whether you win or lose, someone has learned something. When you fight and kill, nobody has learned anything, and the exercise is a waste."  
At the same time, Youko's feelings for Tomokaito grew stronger. 

Keiki had been observing changes in the queen as of late. She seemed to be stronger, more decisive, and most importantly, she seemed happier. Before Youko's smiles were pretty rare, but when they did come, the room would always seem a little brighter. Now things seemed to be always brighter since she started smiling a lot more. There had been times before when Keiki would wonder if he had been right in taking this young girl and laying the heavy burden of a kingdom upon her shoulders. She certainly changed for the better since he first saw that frightened schoolgirl staring wide-eyed at him in that classroom. Now she appeared to be blossoming into strong young woman, even though her age had been arrested. He mentioned these observations to Enho one evening as the sun was setting. "Isn't it obvious, Kei-Taiho?" Enho had said, "Clearly something or someone has been making the queen feel happier. And she's not the only one I've noticed this behavior in."  
"Who else?" Keiki asked.  
"Why Master Tomokaito, of course."  
Keiki looked sharply at the old teacher. "I have not known Master Tomokaito long enough to notice a change in his behavior. For that matter, I find it difficult to be in his presence. He smells faintly of blood."  
Enho placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked over to the balcony to watch the sun set. "I've known Tomokaito Shiryu for a very long time." Enho said, "He was considered one of the coldest and deadliest swordmasters in all 12 Kingdoms. I've never even heard about him cracking a single smile in the last 150 years." Enho turned and favored Keiki with a grin. "And yet, just yesterday, I heard that man laughing with some of the guardsmen out in the courtyard. I suspect that something has melted through the permafrost that had been coating his heart. King En would probably think this man was some sort of imposter if he saw him now."  
Keiki walked over and joined him on the balcony. "Is it wise for the queen to have such a relationship with a wandering mercenary like Tomokaito Shiryu?" he asked softly, "A heart-broken queen would be a terrible thing to behold."  
Enho shrugged. "Tomokaito is one of the most honorable men I know." he answered, "Taking advantage of Queen Kei doesn't seem like something he would do."  
They stood there for a few minutes longer in silence, watching the sun finish setting.

The changes in the queen were not lost on Suzu or Shoukei as they sat in Youko's room with her that evening. Youko had always relished these nightly chats, since she felt it was the only time she could completely let her hair down and not be the Queen of Kei, but just plain old Youko Nakajima."Shiryu says I've been making excellent progress with my training," she said excitedly, "and that I should be ready for my final test by the end of the year."Suzu and Shoukei looked at each other. _Shiryu?_  
"Are you talking about Master Tomokaito?" Shoukei asked. Youko blushed a deep red. "Right, um, Master Tomokaito..." she replied weakly.  
"So that's who it is." Suzu laughed.  
"Huh?"  
Shoukei smiled at Youko warmly. "You've seemed so much happier lately," she said "We figured either you had gone crazy, or someone had captured your heart." Shoukei sat down next to her. "I remember Master Tomokaito came to my father's court fifteen years ago," she said, "my father wanted him to swear the swordmasters Oath of Fealty and bind him to the throne of Hou." She looked at the floor and said wistfully "He was one of the only people I ever saw tell my father off to his face." Shoukei looked back up at Youko, "and he was the only person I ever saw walk out of the court after that. My father was no fool, it would have been a waste of lives trying to arrest Tomokaito Shiryu."  
Suzu smiled, "I've never met him, but he has quite a reputation apparently."  
"What sort of reputation?" Youko asked.  
"He is highly respectful of rulers, so for him to tell off the King of Hou..." Suzu glanced at Shoukei, "I'm sorry, Shoukei, I know you'd rather not bring up your father's history. At any rate, he is known for being extremely honorable, and as a fearsome warrior."  
"They used to call him 'Scourge of the Battlefield'," said Shoukei, "because when he was sent out onto the field, people would die... a lot of people. I've heard of a few cases where the enemy, seeing his approach, would throw down their weapons and offer to surrender."  
"Wow", Youko breathed, "Just one man could cause that much fear?"  
Shoukei's smile faded. "The swordmasters aren't just considered warriors" she said "they've been called demons wearing the flesh of men. They are the deadliest fighters to ever walk the Twelve Kingdoms. There is nothing, human, magical, or youma that can stand against them."

* * *

"What can you tell me about the Swordmasters, Rakushun?" Youko asked the Hanjyuu while they ate lunch. They sat on one of the many beautiful balconies overlooking the capital city. Youko was gazing into the distant beauty of the ocean, watching the sunlight dance off the top of the calm waves. She idly poked at her salad. Rakushun thought for a minute before answering. "History or myth?" he asked.  
"History, I guess" she said, training her emerald eyes on him.  
"Well," he started, "It's written that two thousand years ago, Tentai created a registry of warriors to specifically act as personal bodyguards for the twelve rulers. So there was only twelve swordmasters, one for each kingdom. Their level of skill was beyond any normal soldier or warrior. Any smart ruler could see the usefulness of a single swordsman who was capable of singlehandedly carving up a whole battalion of soldiers. So naturally, these swordmasters would end up being deployed to the battlefield. Apparently, due to their skills at stealth, they were also sent to infiltrate enemy encampments and surgically remove officers. Basically, the swordmasters were masters of any form or type of killing. The problem that arose, however they were being used, was that the swordmasters would inevitably have to fight each other, if more than one was involved in any situation. Their numbers gradually dwindled as they killed each other off. I think now there is only a couple of swordmasters left on the registry. The registry made them immortal, and if they swore the swordmasters Oath of Fealty to a ruler, they were bound to that ruler. Tomokaito Shiryu, in particular, has avoided swearing that oath for close to a thousand years."  
Youko's eyes widened in surprise. _Is he really that old?_ she thought.  
"Is Tomokaito one of the original twelve?" she asked. Rakushun's whiskers twitched. "No" he answered, "he's a third generation swordmaster. I've heard that he won't swear the oath to any ruler, and more than a few have tried to get him. A ruler with a swordmaster bound to their throne is a dangerous opponent."  
_And he's training me to be a swordmaster like himself,_ Youko thought, _why?_  
"What kind of things has he been teaching you?" Rakushun asked, interrupting her thoughts.  
"Hmm? Lessee... other than 'how to take a beating and still stand'," She mused. Youko reached into the pocket of her 'queenly attire', as she called her everyday clothes now, which was better than what she really thought of it; 'royal pain in the ass robes', but she would never say that aloud to anyone. From her pocket she retrieved the three fluted balls that have been her constant companions as of late and began to juggle them. Lately her juggling skills had improved to the point where she no longer had to concentrate hard in order to keep the balls moving. Juggling had pretty much become second nature to Youko now. She would often juggle when thinking about state matters as it seemed to clear her mind. Lately, Tomokaito had her juggling those balls in the dark, using only the light whistling sounds they made to judge where they were in the air. She was starting to improve on that front, but she still was having some difficulty understanding what juggling had to do with fighting skills. Rakushun was impressed, however. "Amazing!" he crowed, "But why does he have you juggling?"  
"I'm not sure yet," she admitted, "but it is fun!"  
Youko laughed as she told Rakushun about returning to her chambers after a morning meeting with her advisors. She had been walking with Keiki, who was offering her some strategies on how to deal with some of the more specific issues of governing, when she absently started to juggle the fluted balls as they walked. The kirin had been horrified. "Shoujou!" he spluttered "Please remember that you are a queen, and not a member of troupe of shusei!"  
Youko smiled at him. "It helps me think, Keiki" she had said. Now that she recalled the amazed, 'my-queen-is-insane' look on the kirin's face, Youko realized that she hadn't been watching the balls while she juggled them. Instead she had been looking Keiki straight in the face while he walked beside her. And now she realized she was doing the same thing with Rakushun while he sat across from her.  
It wasn't until a few weeks later that Youko finally understood why Tomokaito had her practicing all this juggling. It was during her daily lesson with him that she finally asked.  
"In all seriousness, sensai," she asked, "Why am I doing all this juggling?"  
He walked past her to a bowl of fruit that sat on the table and picked it up.  
"You look a little hungry, my queen" he answered mildly, "have an apple."  
She plucked the apple that he tossed to her from the air without even thinking about it.  
Tomokaito leisurely circled the room carrying the fruit bowl. "The reason you are learning juggling is to sharpen your hand/eye coordination" he said.  
Listening, Youko started to take a bite from the apple.  
"Wait," said the swordmaster, "That apple looks a little dull, try this one."  
Youko casually caught the second apple from her left. Did he throw that harder?  
"You know," she heard him say from behind her, "Apples just aren't as good as pears, are they"  
Youko heard the sound of the pear as it flew. In her mind she saw a picture of it approaching the back of her head, and she reached over her shoulder and caught the pear that was thrown. That was definately thrown harder, then she heard another sound.  
Instinctively, Youko drew the wooden practice sword and swung it behind herself in time to block the sword blow that was aimed at her head. She turned and found herself looking into a pair of stormy, gray eyes. Tomokaito was only a few feet from her, their wooden swords still pressed together. He smiled at her and she felt her heart jump. They were so close together, Youko felt that she could have kissed him if she leaned a little more forward. She felt her whole face heat up with blood. What on earth was she thinking?  
He lowered his weapon. "That's why I wanted you to practice juggling. The ability to detect an object in space is the difference between fighting only what you can see, and being stabbed from behind by an enemy you don't see. So by juggling, you keep your hand/eye coordination sharp, and juggling in the dark or with your eyes closed, you can keep your hand/ear coordination sharp as well."

* * *

Tomokaito stood in the darkened training room watching Youko practice the forms for unarmed combat. She certainly had changed since she started training. Her moves were fluid and graceful, and she seemed to flow from one form to the next. Her speed had also grown. Tomokaito sat down on the tatami mats in the lotus position and began to meditate. He needed to control these emotions he felt boiling inside him. This girl, no, this Queen, had somehow managed to ruin his serenity. He felt undeniably attracted to her, but she was a Queen! He had to admit there was a certain level of eroticism in her movements that made his mouth feel dry and his heart race. Youko's fiery, red hair, tied into a pony-tail to keep it from her eyes, would whip around every time she turned. Her thin, curving lips, pursed in concentration, those elegant eyebrows that seemed to reflect whatever mood she was in, drawn down. Tomokaito longed to take her into his arms and bruise her lips with his kiss. She was beauty personified in his mind. He had fallen in love with every aspect of her. Wait, could that be it? Was he in love with her? It was all irrelevant. Soon it would be time for her Test of Steel, and he doubted she would want anything from him if she made it through that. Tomokaito's heart weighed heavy with sadness. 

There were now even more obvious changes in the queen that Keiki had been observing lately. For one, Youko's mannerisms had grown more refined. But perhaps the most striking change was the way she carried herself. While it was not easily noticable when she was wearing her royal robes, she seemed to move with an almost pantherine grace that was completely unlike her when he first met her in Hourai. Whenever Keiki watched her enter the throne room to conduct daily business, it almost seemed like she was a lioness stalking her prey as she glided to the throne. She moves just like Tomokaito does, he thought. Her level of confidence also seemed to have grown immensely. She had also released the hinman, Juryuu, much to Keiki's chagrin. It still seemed odd to Keiki that she continued her peculiar practice of juggling while she was thinking, but now it also seemed that she had eyes in the back of her head. Youko could be facing away from the door and still know who had entered the room. Grimly, he had to admit to himself that Youko probably no longer needed Juryuu.

Keiki walked the halls during the day, almost as if he were patrolling Kinpa Palace himself. He would be the last person to admit that sometimes he just liked to wander through the palace, looking out over the city, and breathing the sweet salt air of the ocean below. It helped him relax, and collect his thoughts. "Kei-Taiho."  
Keiki turned to observe Tomokaito standing behind him, slightly bent at the waist out of respect.  
"Master Tomokaito," Keiki said, "did you need something?"  
Tomokaito straightened and looked into Keiki's face.  
"I've come to speak to you about her Majesty's final test."  
Keiki brought his full attention around to bear on the swordmaster. "Was there something special that you needed, Master Tomokaito?" he asked.  
Tomokaito just continued staring into the kirin's eyes. "Yes", he said, "non-interference."

* * *

Youko never felt more nervous in her life. Her final test was tomorrow. The only thing that was bothering her was Tomokaito's attitude toward her all week. He seemed distant, and cold. When she asked him how she should prepare for the test, he simply told her "Just show up, and bring your sword." She wondered what the test entailed. Demonstrating the forms? Unarmed and armed combat? What could it be? She stood up and went to Suiguu's mount, drew the blade and gazed into its depths. The visions it showed her filled her with horror. In one vision, it showed Tomokaito standing over a bloody corpse, his face hidden, and his sword dripping with blood. The corpse's blood was pooling on the floor, around some fiery red hair. Then the vision changed. Tomokaito's body changed and grew smaller, his skin turned bronze, and his hair turned red. The corpse's hair that had mixed with the blood now became silver.  
Youko slammed Suiguu back into its scabbard and almost threw it across the room. _My god_, she thought, collapsing to her knees, _are we going to kill each other?_

* * *

Youko entered the training room the following morning, and slid the door behind herself shut. Tomokaito stood at the other end of the chamber, his sheathed sword held in one hand.  
"So begins your final test, the Test of Steel." he said quietly, his face hidden by shadows, "The test is simple. You must draw my blood. If you fail, I will most likely kill you. Remember what I taught you. Look for the flow of chi. Do not look for openings that aren't there" Tomokaito drew his sword. _We draw our swords to kill. The bared blade of a swordmaster is not a warning, it is a death sentence,_ Youko thought as she drew her own blade.  
"Defend yourself," he said simply, and attacked.

* * *

His speed was inhuman. It was all Youko could do to defend herself, barely. She managed to meet every one of his attacks, but that's all she felt she could manage. She was already bleeding from numerous cuts and nicks. Tomokaito feinted to her left and she barely dodged his manuever. It was like a storm of steel and she desperately tried to stay in the center. He left no opening for a counter-attack. She ducked one swipe and felt the wooden pillar behind her get torn in half. Parry, parry, parry, dodge, parry, dodge. She calmed herself, and began to steady her breath. _Look for the flow of chi,_ he had said. _What did that mean?_ Youko felt a line of white hot heat across her stomach as she dodged back from a swipe. Dammit! She steadied herself and began to study Tomokaito's movements. Her parries became automatic, as a portion of her mind analyzed his attacks. Her perception of time seemed to slow down for her. She started anticipating his attacks and she began to move with them. Youko bent backwards and watched his blade pass just an inche above her face. She spun in place, parried, dodged again. She hammered one parry into his sword hard enough to send sparks flying and as he moved forward, she spun again, her steel singing for his neck.  
Time seemed to stop. Youko was panting. The edge of Suiguu seemed to be partially buried in Tomokaito's neck. His blood was flowing heavily down the length of her sword. His wrist was braced against her sword arm on the inside, and she felt a pressure in her chest. "You did it," he smiled weakly at her, "you drew my blood."  
"You stopped me from killing you."  
"I stopped more than just that happening," he motioned down with his head. Youko looked down and realized what the pressure she had felt was. The tip of Tomokaito's blade was pressed between her breasts. "If I allowed you to finish your strike and take my head," he said hoarsely, "you'd have joined me in death."  
His sword dropped from his hand as he collapsed onto his knees. Youko stared at him, he was bleeding. A lot. He looked at the side of his shirt, now turning red from his blood. "It appears you may have hit an artery," he mused, "I suspect I won't remain conscious for much longer." Youko dropped her sword and ran for her bag. Inside it was the the healing orb. "Hang on, Shiryu! Just hang on a minute longer!" she called.  
She held the orb to his throat, healing the jagged cut she had made. He smiled and put his hand on top of hers. "You don't have to heal me," he whispered, "you're a swordmaster now. You passed the Test of Steel. I can die now knowing I've left behind such a worthy student." She grabbed his shirt and snarled into his face, "You idiot! I don't want you to die"  
Youko's face was starting to go out of focus. _She closed the wound,_ he thought, _perhaps this is the bloodloss_. He put his hand to her cheek and whispered, "Youko, I love you." then he passed out.

* * *

Youko sat at her table with her head on her arms watching the unconsious form in her bed. She felt tired. All her wounds were healed, but the back of her right hand was hurting. She had passed the test, but she didn't feel any fanfare, or any reason to celebrate. She had almost killed Tomokaito Shiryu, and before he passed out from blood-loss, he managed shake her world by confessing his love. Youko felt the tears welling up in her eyes again, as she felt torn between feeling exhilarated and horribly worried. What if he never woke up again? She blinked back the tears and shook her head. It had been a full day since the test, and he still was out cold. Keiki had taken one look at them both and retreated to the furthest end of the palace. She could understand, the smell of blood from the two of them would probably have made the kirin sick to his stomach. She had to recruit two wide-eyed guardsmen to help her carry Tomokaito here. Then she finally summoned the palace surgeon to examine him.  
The doctor had been shocked to see the amount of blood that had coated Tomokaito's shirt. "S-Shoujou," he had stuttered, "wouldn't it be more appropriate for him to be at the hospital?"  
Youko regarded the doctor with a silent intensity, her green eyes burning.  
"I only require the answers to two questions, doctor." she stated, "Will he live, and what needs to be done for him"  
The doctor looked again at Tomokaito's prone form in the Queen's bed.  
"Well," he said thoughtfully, "I would suggest you get him to drink a lot of juice to start"  
So Youko removed his bloody shirt and spent the rest of the day and most of the night ministering to Tomokaito. And now she rested her head on her arms at the table, watching him. She began to wonder why the room was getting darker, and her head was feeling lighter, when she heard a voice.  
"Where am I?"  
She got up with a start and looked at her bed. Tomokaito had sat up and was looking around blearily. Youko rushed to his side and laid a cool hand onto his forehead, gently pushing him back down to the pillow. He looked up at her and asked "Have I been drinking a lot?"  
She nodded wordlessly, afraid of what to say next.  
"That explains it," he chuckled and took her hand from his head. "If you'll pardon me, Shoujou, but I need to answer the call of nature most urgently."  
He sat up and climbed out of the bed. Looking down, he realized to his relief, that only his shirt had been removed.  
"The bathroom is that way," Youko whispered, pointing in it's direction.  
Tomokaito marveled at the extravagance of the bathroom as he relieved himself. _This bathroom is fit for a queen,_ he thought. It hit him with a shock when he realized that the bathroom WAS for a queen.  
He rinsed his hands under the flowing water of the miniature fountain/sink and dried them. As he walked out of the bathroom, he had to grasp the side of the large vaulted doorway to keep from falling over. He still felt a little dizzy. _I guess I'm pretty lucky to be alive,_ he thought, _I lost a hell of a lot of blood._ He touched the small scar on his neck where he remembered Youko's sword biting in.  
Tomokaito made his way back to the bed. Youko stood beside the bed, her hands clasped in front of her, staring at the ground. He stood in front of her.  
"Let me see your right hand," he said simply. She held up her hand and felt a shock as he took it into his warm grasp.  
"Look."  
She slowly raised her eyes to look at her hand and saw that there was a small black crescent on its back. Tomokaito held up his own hand to show her the same mark.  
"You're a swordmaster now. The training is complete."  
Youko felt her dam cracking and tears beginning to leak out. "I t-t-thought I had killed you" she stammered, "You slept for so long..."  
She felt his strong arms encircle her, and the dam broke. She sobbed into his chest, clutching him tightly. Tomokaito held her and stroked her hair and whispered into her ear, "I would never leave the ones I love."  
He lifted her face and wiped her tears away with his thumb. "And I've fallen very much in love with you, Youko."  
She closed her eyes as their lips met. He delicately traced her lips with his tongue before sliding it into her mouth. Tomokaito felt delirious with joy, she tasted of honey, and warm sunlight on a lazy afternoon.  
Youko felt her exhaustion wash away in his embrace. As they broke off their kiss she whispered back into his ear, "I love you too, Shiryu."  
Tomokaito lifted Youko into his arms and put her onto the bed. Their hands roamed each others bodies. Tomokaito placed his lips to Youko's neck near her jaw and gave her a nip. She thrilled in the electric sensations that sent through her body and she urged him on. She tore open her shirt and he traced his tongue down between her breasts before suckling on her left nipple and cupping her right breast. Youko couldn't suppress the moan that escaped her lips. She felt him trailing kisses down her flat stomach, and the she felt him pulling her pants off and exposing her sex. "Wait," she whispered, "I haven't had a chance to bathe."  
He smiled up at her then buried his face between her legs. Youko gasped as she felt his tongue penetrate her as it moved around her center. The waves of pleasure washed over her as she lost herself in his ministrations. She felt a pressure building up inside of her, and she moaned as she felt it climb. She found the edge and plummeted down, crying out Tomokaito's name as she writhed on the bed and clutched her hands in his silvery hair. Youko's face felt flushed and she felt electric with pleasure as he moved up between her legs and captured her lips in another breathtaking kiss. He gazed down at her, his stormy grey eyes filled with lust, something she knew was reflected in her own emerald eyes.  
He guided himself to her passage and slowly entered her. He stopped when he reached her barrier, her last vestige of childhood. They lay like that, panting, before Youko moved her hands down his back and dug her fingers into his buttocks, pushing. That was all the inspiration Tomokaito needed. He moved his hips forward and Youko felt a sharp pain that made her close her eyes and cry out. She felt some tears escape her eyes and she felt his lips gently caress her eyelids. Slowly he began to move inside of her, drawing back and moving forward. The brief pain melted away in the face of this esquisite pleasure, and she felt a hard knot begin to build in her stomach. They were sweating now as their bodies moved together. Tomokaito lifted her up onto his lap as they moved in unison, and he buried his face in her throat, her breasts, her shoulders, every bit of exposed flesh that he could kiss or suckle. Youko closed her eyes, she couldn't help the moans that were passing her lips. They rolled backward on the bed and he took her thighs in his hands as he drove himself deeper into her. Youko began to feel that peak before she plummeted again, crying out and digging her nails into Tomokaito's back. Tomokaito couldn't hold back any longer, and he collapsed into her arms as he exploded into her, driving her into the throes of another orgasm.  
They clutched at each other for a moment longer, before Tomokaito shakily withdrew and flopped down on the bed beside Youko. Youko turned and nuzzled her head under his chin as she wrapped her arms across his chest. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close, then wrapped the blanket around them. "I love you, Shiryu", Youko whispered drowsily as his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.  
Tomokaito buried his face in her luxuriant red hair.  
"I love you too, Youko."  
As he drifted off to sleep, Tomokaito realized that he truly felt happy for the first time in four hundred years. 

END: Test Of Steel

Reviews are more than welcome... This being my first attempt at fanfiction :-)


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